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Loading ...Tick Tock
thepetcat
Yes well… Just when you thought all was going smoothly, along comes the unexpected to mess with your plans. Turns out I have to move soon. Moving house alone is a mission, but when you got such a big project (and mean literally a massive bit of hardware) to cart about in a half completed state, it kinda messes with your options.
So instead of doing it right, I’ll have to do it rushed.
But it’s not all bad. I’ll have to complete the case out of mdf and hardboard to insure nothing gets broken or damaged inside the case, and replace the various bits with acrylic and wood once I’ve completed the whole moving house thing.
On the plus side though, it means I get to check all me measurements, and can make any minor adjustments before chopping up my pretty mirrored acrylic sheets.
Rated: 90% (2 votes)
Loading ...The Best laid plans….
thepetcat
I’ve pulled the base out from under my PC, and now it’s in the garage, waiting for all the mayhem to begin.
I stripped off it’s plastic, white unberbelly and it is now placed belly up compared to how it has been for the last few years. The plan is to build it, so that what was the top of the base, is now the top of the desk.
After a quick clean it’s ready for the cardboard cut-outs I shall create over the weekend, to test my measurements, and try out a few alternate ideas, before I get it all done in a more permanent material. At the moment I’m still swinging between a lot of perspex, or wood. In the end I think it will probably be a bit of both.
Here is the basic idea for the shell.
I’ve already changed a few things since this was drawn up, like the USB hub, which is now on the side of the raised center area. I’ve also dropped the use of the Drivecage in favour of an 8″ screen, for which I still plan to pick up a usb touchpanel cover before the build is done.
As before, any thoughts, tips and hints are always welcome.
Rated: 100% (2 votes)
Loading ...You want to do WHAT in your bed!?
thepetcat
Ok, so it was a bit of an easy leap for me, but here’s basically where my current build-in-progress began.
My first PC that I had bought when I arrived in the UK was nothing to exciting, it was a monster for it’s time, but it’s time had passed, by the time I got it home. that’s not the only thing that passed me by though, as I soon realised when -in my giddy excitement- I had completely forgotten to insure I had a desk to place it on.
Of course, being unwilling to let such a minor set back dampen my spirits or get in the way of my imminent utopian gaming experience, I slapped together what I could find in the garage, garden and spare rooms of the flat share I was occupying at the time.
These turned out to be one very deep filing cabinet, which now holds various games and spare components, a bed side table, which turns out to be a good place to store your CustomPC mags, and the top, which is..er.. was, a single divan.
Yip. my desk was the 12cm high base of a single bed: gloriously huge, and covered in some unknown brown fabric, which turns out to be a really great mouse surface.
Years went by, and the PC’s changed with the times, but the desk remained. For this last year it has sported a rather nice Antec 900, Q6600, 8800GTS build on it…. but not for long.
It was about a year ago that I sat at my desk, looking at my case and thinking… I need more room… a single-bed sized desk just simply is not big enough once you add 44 inches worth of dual displays, a printer, a case and all the other various bits of junk that inevitably pile up on your desk over the years. There has to be a solution to getting more space on my nice 12cm high, hollow, single-bed sized, desk….
So there you have it. a simple idea once you get it, but it’s quickly becoming more than just an idea now. It took some time to mull over the ideas, think through various problems and finally sketch up a few plans, but now, I can finally say… it’s time.
Today I begin the process of transforming a rather dull and basic divan bed base into my new bed sized, wood panelled, carefully modded PC case… or at least that’s the idea.
For now, I’m simply going to try out the design in cardboard, before ordering some wood and acrylic panels for the real thing. If anyone has any hints, tips, ideas or pitfalls they think I should be aware of before I get going on my very first home made case, speak now…